[Closed] Is it time for a HT550 spot watching thread?

I think it is Rich. Here's the trackleaders page -> Highland Trail 2018 <- linky.

I hope it's not as bad as last year - the first day was really hot but also humid and I felt really nauseous and thought of quitting after 80km, fortunately it started to rain and cool things down a bit. The fast riders are soon out of sight so you can sit back and ride at your own pace.

Don't fall victim to Alan's mind games 🙂 he was raising eyebrows and smirking at my rigid setup last year.

See you Saturday in Tyndrum.

Good luck guys. Thats one hell of an undertaking.

You have sorted out a SPOT you just do not trust me do you Rich 😉

David I trust you!!! 🙂 just need a midge report so I can loose the tent!

Midge aren't a problem if you keep moving. ...

Rainfall for the region is well below average for the year and we've a wee heatwave arriving. Looks like it'll be a doddle.

You don't *need* a tent Rich, there's plenty of dry 😉 bivy spots. I didn't even use the midge net last year though was tempted on the morning of the fourth day when packing the bike at Oykel Bridge.

Doddle? Hmm, I reserve the right to challenge that view!

Just a bump to keep this nearer the top so there aren't multiple threads 🙂

The weather's still looking very settled and not too hot until at least the middle of next week. Low river levels, well there's only really the one in Fisherfield to worry about unless things have been really wet, looks good 🙂 The bogs to get to Benalder Cottage will still be bad.

I'm not sure if Neil Beltchenko's time of 3d10hr22 will be broken but there's at least four riders capable of a sub four day ride. There's two who I think are pretty evenly matched so if they get in to a head to head in the same way that Chris Hope matched Neil for the first two days last year then a fast time is on the cards. If you click the replay button on this link then you can see just how far the front riders go in a day - simply stunning.

We're packed and ready to go.

This is mine pretty well ready to go ...

And they're off!!

Might take a daunder tomorrow to catch some passing through, maybe take a few snaps.

Good luck to all participating, hope it stays dry but not to warm. Anyone got a link for following the dots?

http://trackleaders.com/highland18

Oh no where is lee going ?

Edit just checked her full history it looks like she's realised her mistake and about turned

Ah, that explains it. Seemed a bit weird

Does anyone know the initials of the folks from here? Rt is the only one I've spotted so far

You can click on the dot or look at the rider list.

RM is postierich

RM is postierich

Cheers.

BW is Bob (Whitehouse) but it looks like he's bailed and heading for Corrour Station 🙁

PostieRich - Richard Munro is in the moorings restaurant aka: the pizza place.

Forgive my ignorance here, but can someone explain why Sarah Caylor is shown at 487 miles and the rest of the field are below 200?

She's turned off at fort Augustus. My guess is a bail back to tyndrum for one reason or another.

Mechanical bio or otherwise possibly ? And let's not forget that yesterday was a long hot day for them in untypically Scottish weather.

Trails will be absolutely prime.

We have trails locally I've never seen dry(bog) and ridable in 10 years which are hard baked. So it has potential to be a fast year.

I'm guessing an individual time trial effort of the route that started a few days ahead of the main mass start which most riders are on

Edit - ignore me, thought she may have been a yellow marker.

I’d say enthusiastic effort + heat is going to take a toll on a few. I think that was Bob’s fate.

CONFIRMED SCRATCHES 27/5/18: Stu Cowperthwaite, mechanical; Karl Booth, cow attack (!); Bob Wightman, heat; Alan Sheldon; Justin Atkinson; Shona and Rich all unknown reasons. [Scythe emoji]

Ok that's got to be the maddest reason I've seen for dropping out..... But no laughing matter cow attacks can be vicious.

My uncle was a dairy farmer for years and a couple of times they made a mess off his face

Upto date scratch list:

https://twitter.com/ht_550/status/1000740047711342592?s=21

Go Javi!

Got home a couple of hours ago. I scratched due to a mixture of heat, cramps, mechanicals and bad stomach (not heat related). I had no power in my legs from the first hour or so. I was drinking plenty of water but struggled to get food in. Going through the woods to Bridge of Gaur I just lost all speed even on the flat then climbing out from there the problems really started, periodic vomiting and ever increasing cramps. Got to Benalder Cottage and had to have a lie down inside.

Heading up the singletrack I dinged a rim on one of the water bars and the tyre flatted. I couldn't pump it up properly (or at all really) as if I was too vigorous I'd throw up again 🙁 Put in an inner tube (I'd picked up a 27.5 rather than a 29 by mistake) then five minutes later I caught another water bar and that blew. Just thought "ride over" and figured out how to get back to the start. This was walk to the first Bealach then over peat bogs down into the next glen to pick up what was marked on the map as a path. It was but a rough footpath that I'd have struggled to ride even if the bike was in order.

Got to within a mile or so of Loch Ossian youth hostel when I heard a bike behind me - it just happened to be someone I know! He fixed me up with an inner tube and I got to Corrour station where someone stopping in the B&B there saw me setting up a bivy in the waiting room and offered me the spare room they weren't using complete with shower and paid for breakfast!

The next train was 1230 today (Sunday) and there were at least four other HT550 scratches on board (including Sara - the heat had got to her).

Disappointed but not upset.

For the remainder of this edition I shall be dot watching.

Terrible luck Whitestone, but an epic self-extraction story all the same. Often thought of giving this a go, but then thought of what it would be like to be in a post-24 hour race state, but in the middle of nowhere, in the dark, and the rain, trying to setup a bivi. I don’t know how you do it.

Looks like Lee is running at No 2 at the moment. Awesome.

That's tough whitestone. There's always next year... 🙂

9am scratch update.

https://twitter.com/ht_550/status/1001010993399500800?s=21

It's worth noting Javier Simon is on a singlespeed and is well in the lead.

Derailleurs suck. 🙂

Surprised to see Huw and Scott on that list. Currently at 25% scratch rate.

@dazh - rain would have been nice TBH. I suspect In my case there were a couple of underlying problems and the heat just exacerbated things. Three hours in and I was losing 25-50% timewise compared to last year.

There were four of us on the train and heat was a major contributing factor for all of us.

whitestone

...There were four of us on the train and heat was a major contributing factor for all of us.

I am sceptical of some of the advice I have seen given for combatting heat. I spent 30+ years in the tropics and would often be out running for a couple of hours or cycling all day in temps of 30ºC or higher.

It seems to me that drinks and additives intended for athletic purposes in this country contain way too much salt. I never took drinks with electrolytes in them and I just drank water. Your body maintains your salt levels automatically so it won't excrete salt in your sweat if you are drinking enough to maintain the isotonic levels.

It's only when you allow yourself to dehydrate that your sweat contains a lot of salt and then you need to add it when rehydrating.

I don't know if this was the case for you, but it helped me in endurance rides in very high temps.

I'm not sure if it was purely down to the heat, just that it tipped things over the edge for me. I think there were also a couple of underlying problems, one long term, one short.

Warning! Bodily functions discussed ahead 😐

The long term problem is possibly long term fatigue, the last couple of years I've done six or seven ITTs per year and it's probably caught up with me. Since about October last year I've struggled to get the enthusiasm to do training of any kind or even commute on the bike - I've probably averaged less than a day a week.

The short term problem was that I think I ate something at breakfast that didn't agree with me. I started feeling queasy about three to four hours after breakfast which is about the usual timescale for this to appear (I vaguely remember 3-6hrs being one thing, 6-12hrs being another cause, 12-24hrs a third class). My stomach was in knots and I was mostly retching and dry vomiting. The last bout of vomiting brought up the last of the breakfast and I was fine after that and could take fluid and foods on board but by then I'd made my decision to quit.

I know what you mean about the body maintaining its balance. I was only drinking plain water, I've not used electrolytes for some years now. There were very few salt stains on my clothing, I was sweating steadily but not profusely.

Losing fluid through sickness is only going one way really especially in hot weather and I've no regrets about scratching when I did. I knew I could get myself out, even though it might take some time and might be a bit painful due to cramp and blisters. Pride might take a knock but then, it's only pride.

Hi Bob, gutted for you! I think you're probably right about the fatigue - you just kept hammering on after the HT550 last year, while I just collapsed in a heap and stopped the long rides after it for a while. Rest up for a while!

I'm just starting to ramp up the training for torino-nice - fancy that one?!

Had thought about the T-N but have signed up for the French Divide (yes, yet another long ride), one of the organisers is out on the HT at the moment.

One of my jobs for this week is to get the dent out of the wheel rim, the rest of the time will be chilling and doing a bit of gardening.

@trail_rat - having hike-a-biked across the bogs to get to Benalder cottage plus having gone AWOL down the glen to get to Corrour, my bike doesn't need cleaning! It's a bit dusty but it will just brush off. Normally after a ride like this I'll need to get the scrubbing brush out and clean all the bags but there's no point this time.

whitestone

....Pride might take a knock but then, it’s only pride.

Anyone with the remotest idea of what you set out to do there will simply think you did the smart thing. There's no sense in running yourself down to the stage you need rescue.

In these events, there's no such thing as a failure, just a previous attempt...

How much of the route is on roads?  It's hard to tell from what I'm seeing, but it looks like some of the route from before Kylsku round to Drumbeg and Lochinver, then down to Ledmore Junction and through Ullapool might be on roads, or are there tracks close to the roads?

There's a few km down Glen Lyon to Bridge of Balgie then a few between Ardverikie and Laggan plus the bottom part of Corrieyairack as far as Garve Bridge. There's a little bit in to Fort Augustus then a bit along the main road in Glen Moriston.

There's a big section between Corrimony and Struy, maybe 20km of fast level road and then getting in to Contin.

Very little then until you get to Oykel Bridge when you've road to almost all the way to Merkland, there's just a couple of km of gravel at the top of Glen Cassley, so that's perhaps 30km, possibly a bit more. Kylesku to Lochinver is the lumpy road, yes it's tarmac but it's 25% down then 25% up. A bit of road from Ledmore back to Oykel Bridge.

There's road in to and out of Ullapool, maybe 20km in total and a bit in Glen Torridon. The last significant bit is around Dornie (Eilean Donan) where there's maybe 16km to get to Glen Licht and the path over to Glen Affric.

At a guess there's maybe 100km of road out of 880km total but not all of it's easy. Also when you've ridden through Fisherfield and along the postman's path or done the Glen Canisp Traverse to Ledmore you need a bit of rest 🙂

Thanks very much for all the details!  I've ridden the Drumbeg road and others in the area on fixed wheel, and know that it's not an easy ride!  I'm a new mountain biker, but once I get a bit of experience I'm hoping to ride some sections of the HT550 as day rides, so I'm just trying to get a feel for what to expect.

Lee Craigie is still running second.

This generation's Beryl Burton?

See Javi go. Go dude go.

He's just starting the Postman's Path (appropriate given his job), two to two and a half hours to Kinlochewe. He's about 24hrs up on where I was last year, with luck he'll get down the Torridon descent before dark then it's a bit of road before the climb over to Dornie so will probably bivy somewhere in the Strathcarron area.

Looks like the leader is feeding up at the Whistlestop Cafe in Kinlochewe. Lee is about a mile behind.

Minipips is going well. Impressive young lad.

Lots of impressive rides in v. tough conditions. After dark now and Lee seems to have whistled by Kinlochewe, leaving Javi and Alex behind as she heads past Loch Clair. [edit] And seems they are following. I thought earlier that one of the leading 3 might make a decisive move overnight, time will tell I guess. Go well everyone!

Think I might stay up late tonight dot watching. 🙂

Lee in the lead by 2 miles at midnight.

Did alex even sleep last night ?

That's a commanding lead he's got. Lee second now.

Going through Alex's log it certainly doesn't look lie he has slept. Is this too early to make a dash like that?

29c recorded in Achnasheen and Fort William yesterday, widely 28c.. Same forecast today. Possibility of thunderstorms from later tomorrow.

Last year Chris Hope went for home from The Schoolhouse bothy just after Oykel Bridge. From Alex's track it looks like he slept at or near Suileag bothy just outside Lochinver. His last ping was 30 mins ago from Camban bothy in Glen Affric. TL also shows he's stopped for a total of 10 hours which is a long time for a single bivy but I can't see another camp icon but timing wise there's a big gap near Garve which for his pace seems about right.

Lee is dropping down to Inverinate - there's a filling station there that opens at 7am and the next refreshment point is the youth hostel in Glen Affric so a good chance she'll take the opportunity.

Fraser McBeath is at Strathcarron hotel and is considering scratching - he posted this on the Bearbones forum.

Fraser also reported that Javi is having problems with his drop-outs. He's zip-tied them together but not expecting the fix to last until Tyndrum.

whitestone

...Fraser also reported that Javi is having problems with his drop-outs. He’s zip-tied them together but not expecting the fix to last until Tyndrum.

Either he's having more problems with them or with his tracker because his dot hasn't moved in over an hour.

Glen Affric is dodgy for spot reception usually. Always get some blackouts in there.

Javi is having tracker problems, since it fell off his bike and got damaged.... He lost the nut from his rear axle just before Kinlochewe. Carried on with a proper trailside bodge of DT RWS cable tied to frame, to stop the axle falling out. Hopefully he has managed to sort a more secure fix now!

And Fraser has scratched

Looks like Lee is in Tomich for some refreshment given her timing through Dornie and Inverinate - the pub there know about the event plus there's a cafe on the other side of the road.

Alex is about 20 minutes from FA, for the front riders it's about ten hours from there to the finish so an ETA of around midnight assuming no mishaps or long cafe breaks.

Further down the field: Phil Fraser-Thomson is well ahead of where he was last year, he passed me at the Sealga river crossing at midday which puts him about 8hrs up at a guess. Pete McNeil is also doing well, looks like he's riding with Alan Goldsmith who will no doubt not be stopping at the Dornie toilets tonight! Rich Munro is on the way in to Fisherfield.

I feel for those suffering in this heat; we met Darren Smith near Loch Pattack on Sunday afternoon and again at Wolftrax café shortly after.  He was a little confused and quite frazzled in the heat but was convinced he was now dropping out and was thinking about a revised plan, bailing at Fort Augustus and taking an easier return towards Tyndrum on the last leg of the route..  Darren is another who suffered a hefty pinch flat on his tubeless set up on the climb after Ben Alder cottage.  I doubt that Wolftrax would have an extra spare 29+ tube for him as he was now down to a single spare and we didn't.

On the plus side, his track shows he must have been up on the Corrieyairick at dusk, which must have been simply spectacular.

A wee footnote: he described much of his training as having been in the snow, ice and mud of an up-state New York winter.  Normally, that'd be perfect prep for a summer ride in the Highlands.

whitestone

...Alex is about 20 minutes from FA, for the front riders it’s about ten hours from there to the finish so an ETA of around midnight assuming no mishaps or long cafe breaks.

The race is well and truly on now. 🙂

Looks like Mike Clarke is scratching 🙁 He's heading along the main road towards Corrieshalloch. He'd gone partway up the Corrie Hallie track in to Fisherfield then turned round.

Javi's SPOT has just updated and he's left Tomich so whatever bodges he's done are still working.

What do folks use for waterproofs on this? I can't imagines you want anything heavy but nor do you want anything any less than completely waterproof as you are out for such a long time

Waterproofs. Last year the forecast was for some very heavy showers (which we got) so I took a Haglofs windshirt and an Endura MT500 jacket. The windshirt dealt with lighter showers but I was glad of the MT500 on the two occasions I used it. This year I took the windshirt again but took a lightweight Endura top to go over it if there was heavier rain.

I don't bother with waterproof trousers in summer, for some reason I can cope with my legs getting soaked but not my torso.

Mike has a cut foot and is heading for some medical attention.

for some reason I can cope with my legs getting soaked but not my torso.

Are you happy to live with wet shorts for a few days in a row? I guess it's 'summer'

Are you happy to live with wet shorts for a few days in a row? I guess it’s ‘summer

They do dry out you know. If you've got wet shorts either from rain or sweat then when you get to a bivy, take 'em off, wring out, apply talc to help dry, apply talc to yourself, go to sleep, apply more talc in the morning, start riding.

For things like this you need to know your strengths and weaknesses.

And love of talc....

Spent 8 weeks doing a fast tour (2700 miles)* in only one pair of shorts. Just washed them every other day and used plenty of sudocrem.

Well done for getting as far as you did Whitestone. Massive admiration for all the riders out there. Just being on the startline is way more than I could do.

*my fast is still glacial...

Yep, massively impressive but inspirational as well. It looks worth doing

There were two guys at the start who'd toured it over ten or eleven days which would be a very nice way to do it as there's bothies at a few suitable locations when going at that sort of pace. There'd be one or two sections where you'd need to have food, stove with you but for quite a lot of the route you can eat in cafes, pubs, etc.

@Andy, ta, losing fluids through sickness is only really going to have one outcome in that sort of heat. I think I'd have scratched anyway either at Laggan or Fort Augustus even if I hadn't had the wheel/tyre problems, that just made my mind up. Scratching there meant that the logistics of getting back to Tyndrum weren't too bad.

Yep Whitestone - good call and escape that, textbook actually!. Alway remember my yachtmaster examiner saying she didnt want to see us doing things right. She wanted to see us f*** up, and then see what we did to get out of it. Only time I left course on my tour was after riding with a root canal infection for 3 days, and regretted not bailing sooner.

43 miles to the end for Alex.
Lee has 67 miles.

Dot watching is going to be better than watching the telly tonight...

Looks like Alex is refuelling in the Co-op at Caol rather than requiring the 24hr service stations. Not sure what the fast riders need from there, 2hrs to Kinlochleven, 2hrs up the Devil's Staircase, 3 to Tyndrum, something like that.

The new finish section will add on a bit of time. The climb over to Bridge of Orchy will be slower than the road.

What's the record for the HT550?

Hats off to all that have a go

3 days 10 hours 22 minutes courtesy of Mr Neil Beltchenko last year. His total stopped time, that includes sleeping, was under ten hours!!!

The course does change slightly each year, usually due to things like hydro schemes but this year has the sting in the tale at Bridge of Orchy where the WHW is followed rather than the road around the side of the hill.

The current route has only been used since 2016, earlier editions started out along the WHW to Kinlochleven before heading towards Laggan. They also exited Fisherfield via Poolewe rather than the Postman's Path and did the Annat ascent and Coire Lair descent in Torridon. The WHW start was replaced to avoid having 50 bikers and all the walkers mixing. The Torridon section was changed because of some very close calls due to weather.

Forgive me if this is a daft question but I don’t understand the leaderboard/who is wining.

looking at the map it looks like Darren Smith currently on about 515 miles but on the riders page he is well down with Alex pilkington at the top and lee craigie not far behind.

Am I missing something here?

Darren didn't start along with everyone else, he is doing it as an ITT (that's why his marker is in yellow)

If you look at his History, you will also see that he has only done a small part of the route